Flying Kiwis – May 21
The Football Ferns played on Friday afternoon. The North Carolina Courage played the Utah Royals on Monday afternoon. Both in America, mind, but too short a recovery period for the two kiwis involved in both games? Not at all.
Flying Eagles: Tyler Boyd’s Switched His International Allegiances To The USA
Although the news came as no surprise, it was still a bit of a downbuzz. Tyler Boyd has officially changed his allegiance through FIFA to the United States, which is a card they only let you play once as a senior international… thus his chances of ever playing for the All Whites again are officially 0.00%.
The Footy Ferns World Cup Journey Took A Setback With A 5-0 Hiding Against The USA
A 5-0 defeat is not exactly the result you want to see as you ramp up your preparation for the World Cup but that’s what the Football Ferns were served up against the USA in St Louis. Five goals and that puts a sudden halt to some of that recent momentum.
Unsurprisingly, Premier League Broadcasting in Aotearoa Continues To Be Completely Mental
The final day of the Premier League season wasn’t quite as dramatic as we’d hoped. There were no late goals that mattered, the two teams scrapping it out at the top both won comfortably enough – although Man City copped a scare in the first half – and it was all kinda predictable in the end.
Roy Krishna Is Officially The A-League’s Best Player (Pay Him Whatever It Takes)
Roy Krishna did something rather impressive last night. Or maybe a better way to put that is that Roy Krishna did something rather impressive for the entirety of the A-League season and last night was rewarded for it.
Flying Kiwis – May 14
Guess who was at it again? Seventeenth minute of the game, Istanbul Basaksehir vs Ankaragücü, and Tyler Boyd cuts inside with a few stepovers, a few shimmies of the shoulder, and then smack right into the bottom corner. That’s his fifth goal to go with his four assists this season and he only joined the club in January. What a lovely goal it was too.
The End of the Welly Nix Season, Part 3: A Successful Season?
This season changed suddenly when word broke that Mark Rudan’s long expected departure was the real deal. The Nix had just lost a mud one 3-1 away to Adelaide and were about to lose an even more mud one 2-1 away to Brisbane Roar.
Flying Kiwis – May 7
Wembley Stadium. The FA Cup Final. It’s all a bit of a dream for a young footy player growing up in Aotearoa, male or female, but Ria Percival made it history as she became the first New Zealander to play on that fabled stage in that fabled cup.
The End of the Welly Nix Season, Part 2: The New Gaffer
Talay hadn’t been the only person publically linked to the job and given the Nix’s track record you’d be forgiven for thinking it might be a while before next season’s priorities got dealt with. But lo and behold, just after 9am on Saturday morning the Welly Nix threw it all out there: Ufuk Talay was confirmed as the head coach for the 2019-20 season.
The End of the Welly Nix Season, Part 1: Defeat In Melbourne
The Wellington Phoenix started brilliantly against the Melbourne Victory in their elimination playoff. Right from the start they looked sharp and energised, as Roy Krishna found and pocket of space and lashed one goalwards off his left foot for Lawrence Thomas to save.
The Football Ferns Have Named Their World Cup Squad And Here It Is
There’s definitely a defensive feel to this squad, with a fair few fringe forwards left out of the picture. More than that it’s an extremely experienced squad. The only players with fewer than ten caps are two reserve keepers and a couple defensive alternatives. 14 of the 23 players have at least 50 caps and there are six centurions with a 99-capper in there too.
Previewing the Welly Nix’s First Playoff Game For Four Years
Here we are then. Friday night at 9.50pm at AAMI Park in Melbourne. It’s the Melbourne Victory against the Wellington Phoenix with the winner advancing to play either Perth or Sydney in the semi-finals and the losers can finally get back to work on that long-ignored novel they’ve been writing because their season will be over as swiftly as a Valyrian steel dagger to the gut.
The Premmy Files – The OFC Champions League Semi-Finals Debacle
Woah matey, who saw that one coming? For eight consecutive years and eleven times out of the last twelve the OFC Champions League has been won by a club from Aotearoa, the one exception being Hekari United’s triumph in 2010 and even that was still against Waitakere United in the final.
Flying Kiwis – May 1
Bill Tuiloma has constantly planted one foot in front of the other and made strides ever since joining the Timbers. First it was establishing himself with the reserves at USL level. Then it was working in as a defensive option on the bench for the MLS team. Then it was a couple of impressive starting efforts in the playoffs last season when injury/suspension struck the squad.
The Welly Nix Tanked Their Trip To Perth And It Doesn’t Really Matter
But let’s be honest, if Mark Rudan was prioritising this game in any way then he wouldn’t have made six changes to a winning team. That alone was a dead giveaway for his priorities here. Meanwhile Perth have a bye next week because of being minor prems and all that plus they rested their dudes last week so they didn’t wanna go three weeks without a decent hit out.
Flying Kiwis – April 24
A minor tweak for the usual number tahi Timon Wellenreuther and Michael Woud, fresh from being named in the Junior All Whites for the U20 World Cup in a few weeks, was up for his second Eredivisie start.
Roy Krishna Did What Roy Krishna Does and the Welly Nix Got The Late-Season Booster They Needed
The Nix have been a confidence team this season with their fate constantly swinging with the hype of their results. That hype’s on the downswing at the moment. They needed one more of those ahead of that playoff game to get the buzz going again and they needed it desperately.
Scoping The Welly Nix Squad For Next Season (Settle Down, They’re Not All Following Mark Rudan)
Bad news is a well-liked and successful manager leaving your football club. Worse news is when that manager is almost certainly leaving to join a rival club in the same competition. Worst news is when three-quarters of your current squad are still unsigned and might all decide to pop across and join the old gaffer at his new club.
That U20 World Cup Squad Is Every Bit As Stacked As Expected
Des Buckingham has named his 21-man squad for the upcoming U20 World Cup in Poland in five weeks and, mate, it’s a doozy. There are senior internationals, there are overseas professionals, there are Ole Academy stars, there are Wellington Phoenix grads.
Flying Kiwis – April 17
Speak it into existence. Chris Wood knows the trick. Saying the words aloud is the first step towards success and the first hurdle to overcome in that process. The rest may as well be inevitable.